A VIOLENT teenage kidnapper has been jailed for seven years for holding a shopkeeper hostage in Liverpool until his family paid #35,000.

David Baig, 17, took part in the "ruthless and professional" kidnap of a corner shop owner in Sheffield and held him for two days before dumping him, close to death, in Bolton.

The youngster, recruited by a nationwide network of thugs, was one of four men who burst into Sheraz Mohammed's store, knocked him out with the butt of a gun, attacked him with a machete, stabbed him in the back and left his thumb hanging off.

At one stage, they feared Mr Mohammed would bleed to death so started wrapping him in Sellotape.

Baig, from Wavertree, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting kidnap and wounding with intent to cause GBH. Judge Roger Keen QC said 17-year-old Baig was "highly dangerous".

His accomplice, 22-year-old Imran Rashid, from Derby, denied the abduction and was jailed for 14 years after a jury found him guilty.

Baig had been persuaded to join the gang by Rashid, who had criminal connections in the city. The gang was also known to have connections to thugs in Yorkshire and the Midlands. Baig was paid just #500 shortly after Mr Mohammed was dumped outside Bolton General Hospital on October 28 last year.

Police said the kidnap was "well-planned, ruthless and professional" and that a car had been bought specifically for the task.

Sentencing Baig, the judge said: "Your victim was stabbed in the back, slashed viciously with a machete and his injuries were potentially life threatening. It was only because he was in hospital within the next few days that he didn't die."

Mr Mohammed told police that during his ordeal he was barely conscious but was aware that he had been taken on a long drive and into a terraced house somewhere in Liverpool. While he was held there, his friends and family managed to get together the #35,00 ransom. The gang had originally demanded #75,000.

Baig and Rashid were arrested as a result of information given to police. The other two men involved have not been caught.